Trey Starks

There is a taste in Trey Starks’ mouth that he is eager to get rid of.

Starks is coming off one of his most challenging weekends of the season with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour at Grays Harbor Raceway.

Trey Starks overcame adversity and improved throughout the annual ASCS Northwest Region Speedweek, which featured seven races at five tracks in nine days throughout Washington and Oregon.

If it wasn’t for a couple of unlucky breaks last weekend, the sky was the limit for Trey Starks at the 42nd annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.

Everything has been leading up to this weekend.

Trey Starks’ offseason and first 10 races of this year have been in preparation for the 42nd annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup – a $20,000-to-win event at Skagit Speedway this Thursday through Saturday.

Despite sustaining his worst result of the season on Saturday at Skagit Speedway, Trey Starks said it was arguably his most productive race of the year.

Make that seven straight finishes in the top four for Trey Starks.

“I feel like everything is running really smooth this year,” he said.

Trey Starks is getting used to racing on the fly.

Once again, his team had to change direction last Saturday when the ASCS Northwest Region opener was rained out at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.

Trey Starks categorized the initial round of the Summer Thunder Series a success.

A new month brought a new opportunity for Trey Starks.

Facing no chance of rain for the first time this season, Starks opened the month of May with double duty at Skagit Speedway on Saturday. He led all 25 laps to claim his first feature victory of the season in his first 360-ci event and he finished fourth in the 410-ci race.

Frustrating is the nice way of putting it.

The finish certainly wasn’t what Trey Starks envisioned of his season opener, but the 17-year-old tapped into his veteran mindset after crashing Saturday night at Skagit Speedway.

Trey Starks has received a great education in the sport of sprint car racing over the last couple of seasons. Last year, he visited numerous tracks for the first time, during a summer trip to the Midwest

Trey Starks is well aware of the history, prestige and aura of the famed Chili Bowl Nationals. After all, his father John competed in the Chili Bowl during its formative years, finishing a very solid sixth in the 1995 edition of the star-studded event, which draws drivers from a multitude of racing series and disciplines. Trey will follow in his dad’s footsteps this year, as he’ll open his 2013 racing campaign in the Chili Bowl, which will mark his first career start in a midget.